Human Resources Committee on April 25th, 2022

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Fantastic.

To switch gears a little bit, one witness we heard from today was talking specifically about how we don't have enough data on unpaid work in this country, and specifically as it relates to unpaid caregiving work. We know that this is something that is felt all across our country, but it's also acutely felt in this care economy space.

I am wondering what your department is specifically doing to try to increase the amount of data we have so that we can respond to some of this....

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

That's a really good question.

We have, of course, the Stats Canada labour force survey. We have the wages survey, but it doesn't capture the kind of information you're talking about.

I think the vehicle that can crack this nut, for lack of a better of way of putting it, is our Labour Market Information Council, which is an FPT partnership among federal, provincial and territorial governments that looks at labour market info. This topic specifically can be dug into by this group.

I apologize for not knowing the extent to which this group is looking at it. I'll take that away and make sure it does look at unpaid care work. I think that is one of the most important untold stories of this entire conversation we're having.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Fantastic, Minister. I was just wondering if you could table that information with the committee so that we have it.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Absolutely. I'll see what I can get for you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mrs. Goodridge.

Now we'll go to you, Mr. Coteau, for five minutes. I believe you may be sharing.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I will be sharing my time with my colleague, MP Collins.

This question is continuing on the data piece. In Canada we have such a large pool of potential workers who, without question, can fill labour shortage gaps. There are many underutilized groups here in this country. We think about young people, people living with disabilities, indigenous people and many other groups. It's a long list.

I'd like to know what we are doing in regard to putting in place a strategy to identify potential large pools of individuals who can contribute to filling those gaps. What kind of strategy are we building?

Also, what are we doing to collect and use disaggregated data to better inform policy decisions as a government? That data can be broken into many of those categories I mentioned, but race-based data as well.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I'm going to start with the data question first.

The best tool we have right now is the StatsCan labour force survey. Historically, it has collected good data but not disaggregated data, so it has had a limited use or it certainly hasn't maximized the potential for its use. Over the past year—I don't remember exactly when; I'm sorry, Mr. Coteau—we started collecting race-specific data through the labour force survey.

We've recently also started collecting disaggregated data on disability. It's been very helpful as we build our programs and policies to understand where these pockets of untapped talent are, who they are, where they live in the country. It helps us create targeted programs, like the ones I talked about for women and persons with disabilities. It also helps us ensure that our broad programs are responsive at the local or regional levels to the labour market realities people are facing and the barriers people are facing.

The other story that data doesn't tell, regardless of unemployment levels or regardless of opportunities that exist, is that, if the systemic discrimination is not addressed, people aren't getting these jobs. We need to up our game, as all governments do and as we are trying to do, on addressing the systemic discrimination that these same groups are facing to enter the workforce.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

I'll pass it over to MP Collins.

Thank you.

[Chad Collins, Liberal, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

Thanks, member Coteau.

Minister, welcome back. It's very evident from your answers you've provided today and from your past attendance at committee that you have a real passion for everything you're doing. Thank you for all the work you're undertaking and the progress you're making in all areas of your mandate letter.

I want to specifically address the FCR program you referenced earlier. I've had discussions with new immigrants who have arrived in my city of Hamilton, and while many of them have found employment, some have struggled to find employment in their area of expertise.

You highlighted in your opening statement a $115-million investment over five years that will be invested in the foreign credential recognition program. Can you tell us more about the investment, what we'll see in 2022 and how it pertains to the labour shortages in the care economy?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

The $115 million, with $30 million ongoing, which I think is an important addition to the story, is for up to 11,000 internationally trained health care professionals per year to find work in their field, which is the point I think you're trying to make. What we want is for people to be able to use their talent and the talent they've trained for and the work experience they bring to the table.

Whether it's supporting organizations that help people navigate the credential recognition process—and I commend and applaud the efforts of a couple of the provinces that are, right now, really digging in on their own requirements; my own province of B.C. is one of them for nurses—to figure out where the noise is, what we actually need, how we simplify, how we make sure it's quality skills that are coming in, but also that we're not overburdening people and making them retrain unnecessarily. Also, it's about providing loans to individuals in health care who come with health care backgrounds, so they can get any kind of upskilling that they ultimately need, providing first care work experience, work-integrated learning.

Again, it's about working across jurisdictions in conversations around streamlining all these processes. These processes are so clunky and burdensome. I think that's one of the big value items we can add as a government: convening those tables and ensuring that we dig in and make sure we're not asking too much that's unnecessary of people.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Minister.

Ms. Chabot, you have the floor.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, we can all agree that streamlining these processes is a major endeavour. It's true for Service Canada, and for Citizenship and Immigration Canada. There's a range of issues to resolve.

As for the issue of temporary foreign workers, here are a few statistics. Before 2021, there was a five‑ to six‑week wait to get authorizations. Currently, you have to add eight to 15 weeks, on top of the time it takes to get work permits, which varies, depending on the country.

Are you currently working—yes or no—to streamline the process and cut down on processing times for the temporary foreign worker program?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I can assure you, Madame Chabot, that while there were delays—and we actually get the data once a week in terms of how long the processing time is per region across the country—I question it anytime we aren't seeing it go down.

I'm sorry I don't have the data in front of me. J-F, do you have the current...?

I know we've made so much progress, particularly in Quebec, on the delay piece, because of what was happening with our systems in the fall, but I feel like that is all but fixed.

[Jean-François Tremblay, Deputy Minister, Department of Employment and Social Development]

Minister, I don't have the most recent numbers at the moment and I won't try to guess, but we can send the most recent information.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

We absolutely can. In fact, why don't we provide a couple of months' worth of processing time data so that the committee can see how, across regions in the country, the data processing time has gone down over time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Madame Chabot, did you...?

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Yes, I would like to see that data, if it's possible.

Minister, I will end by saying that EI reform can't wait. You know very well that the flexibility measures you put in place will expire in September 2022, and that the status quo isn't possible. And so we're expecting you to make announcements on this issue, in the near future.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

I understand, and I assure you that the message is received.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

Ms. Zarrillo, to close this session, do you have a question for the minister?

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I want to ask the minister about getting benefits to persons with disabilities. We know that the Canada disability benefit act will be coming soon for the Canada disability benefit. I want to understand from the minister how we will be able to identify in the tax system how to easily find persons with disabilities to access any benefits. I know it was a challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to understand what movement has been made there and how we plan to easily identify people who will be eligible for a benefit.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

We're forming our eligibility processes. Taking a modern approach to disability is part of the disability inclusion action plan and will feed into the eligibility process for the disability benefit. I can't stress enough how complicated it was—and you all lived it with me. We don't have an easily accessible list of persons with disabilities in this country, as we would for, say, people over the age of 65, whom we could identify very quickly through our data sources.

We know that we have a list of DTC recipients. We have a list of CPPD recipients. We have a list of Veterans Affairs disability recipients. For the one-time payment, we put those lists together. We are actively working on a better process, potentially working with provinces on how their lists of disability support recipients could feed into some kind of master list, if you will, of recipients. That is, again, the hard work behind the scenes that is certainly going on right now to be ready and to have the system ready. It's going on in parallel.

Certainly DTC is not.... It's no secret that I'm not a big fan of having DTC play the gate-keeping function that it does within government, and we are working to change that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Ms. Zarrillo.

Thank you, Madam Minister.

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Delta, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for inviting me.

In response to the very first comment that was made, I know all of you wanted to talk about labour shortages. I know you're all committed to making the care economy as strong as we can in this country.

I look forward to keeping our conversations going.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you so much, Minister. Your answers, as it was pointed out, show your interest and passion on all aspects of your file. Thank you for sharing with us.

Before we conclude, I want to remind committee members, as the witnesses are leaving, that on Thursday in the first hour, we will be hearing from the latest Centennial Flame winner. She will be appearing before the committee to give us an overview. I also want to remind members that, on Thursday, we will be invited to provide drafting instructions to the analyst on the care economy. This will be done under committee business. The last half-hour will be in camera.

We will have the Centennial Flame recipient and drafting instructions for the care economy.

If nobody has any further questions, we will adjourn the meeting. Thank you, committee members.